With Delaware's polls closing on a Tuesday in mid-September, the long arc of the primary season reached its quiet conclusion — the last nominating verdicts rendered before the country turns its full attention to the midterm general election. Delaware, small in geography but final in sequence, offered the closing word on which candidates the parties would carry into the broader contest for congressional and state power. In the rhythm of democratic life, this moment marks the hinge between the inward work of party selection and the outward reckoning of national choice.